Danielle Fishel, Will Friedle and Rider Strong have no clue why.
Danielle Fishel, Will Friedle and Rider Strong made a startling admission while discussing their former Boy Meets World co-star, Ben Savage -- the group hasn't spoken to him in three years. They've tried, but according to the trio, he "ghosted" them.
The three actors -- who played Topanga, Eric and Shawn, respectively, for all seven seasons on the hit ABC sitcom from 1993 to 2000 -- are perplexed about the estrangement, given that there's no logical reason to explain the, for lack of a better word, fallout. They said as much in a lengthy Variety profile, in which they talk about their popular iHeart Radio rewatch podcast, Pod Meets World.
It wasn't always this way. When the cast reunited at fan conventions, Savage -- the show's star as Cory Matthews -- was also there front and center. With so much interest still surrounding the TGIF staple, the trio approached Savage about joining them for the rewatch episode. But it was a hard pass for Savage.
"He was very adamant that it was not for him," Fishel tells Variety. "He was also very clear, 'I don't want it to stop you. If you guys want to do it, go ahead.' The time between those conversations and the time we actually started the podcast was a significant amount of time."
Fishel, Friedle and Strong launched the podcast last June. Prior to that -- and out of the blue without a warning or explanation -- Savage stopped attending conventions.
"He just kind of disappeared from our lives," Fishel explained.
All in all, the group says they haven't spoken to Savage in three years. They've tried, to no avail. Friedle, especially.
"He disappeared -- I wish I knew why, to this day," he says. "We didn't have a fight. There's no falling out. There was no animosity. He just woke up one day, and decided I don't want this person in my life anymore."
"I finally sent a text saying, 'I've known you for 30 years, what's going on?'" Friedle continued. "I said, 'I'm gonna call you every day until you tell me not to call you anymore.' That lasted about three weeks or a month, every single day."
Friedle, who played Savage's older brother, is just baffled, to say the least.
"I've known him since he was 11 years old, and we have a shared history. And we were doing these conventions together, and we were getting to know each other as adults, and then he just kind of went, I'm done with you," Friedle said. "I tried and tried and tried for months, until finally my wife was like, 'Why are you doing this to yourself? He obviously doesn't want you in his life.'"
Fishel said Savage was there for her when her son was born early and in NICU in June 2019. She said he checked in on her regularly, but then he went radio silent.
"He ghosted us," she said.
In April, William Daniels aka Mr. Feeny, reunited with his Boy Meets World co-stars to celebrate his 96th birthday. They gathered for dinner ahead of their scheduled appearance at the 2023 Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo. But there was a noticeable absence: Savage, whose failed campaign for a seat on the West Hollywood City Council hasn't deterred him from running for Congress.
Whatever the case, Fishel wishes Savage the best.
"If there's anything this podcast has taught me, it's that everyone is on their own journey and having their own experiences that can be perceived many different ways, depending on your [point of view]," she said. "Speaking for myself, Ben and I may be estranged right now and we may have our complaints about each other, but I will always love Ben and want what's best for him. I don't think this is the end of our story -- but time will tell."
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